Once I'd managed to get past the band name the next warning sign for me that this was either going to be a classic or nothing nowhere near was the description of the album as a 'heavy metal project'.  That doesn't exactly give a jolt to the enthusiasm levels does it? As for the word 'project' you could also substitute such alternatives as 'assignment' or 'task', not exactly setting the scene for something exciting, organic, impulsive, wild, loud and breathing fire is it? There are though no fewer than 25 special guests kicking around on this album but if I'm bluntly honest you would have to be some kind of uber metal nerd to known most of them.  So is this then the modern day equivalent of 'Hear 'n Aid', the metal Live Aid and brain child of the only true star to ever get away with singing about wolves on a regular basis, Sir Ronnie James Dio?  Well let's dig a little deeper shall we....

So what is 'Wolfpakk' all about then?  Well the two leaders of the pack are Michael Voss (Ex-Casanova, Mad Max) and Mark Sweeney (Ex-Crystal Ball), who when as young pups always wanted do a project together and planned what would become 'Wolfpakk', where as many famous musicians as possible from the hard rock and metal scene would all be involved.  Which is not a bad plan in fairness. The famous guests or wolves we are talking about here include Paul Di'anno (Ex-Iron Maiden), Tony Martin (Ex-Black Sabbath), and Jeff Scott Soto (Ex-Yngwie Malmsteen, Talisman), Tim Ripper Owens (Ex-Judas Priest), Tony Franklin (Ex-Blue Murder, Robert Plant), Mat Sinner (Primal Fear), and Neil Murray (Whitesnake/Black Sabbath/Vow Wow and a million others), for the remaining guests it would certainly be a push to remotely use the term famous. However with those mentioned you would like to think that there is enough history, experience and past glories to provide us with a quality tune or two, but herein lies the problem.  All the music and lyrics were written by the leaders of the pakk (alpha wolves Voss and Sweeney) so these guests are doing little more than playing or singing on songs as instructed, and the songs, well, they are average at best, and that could be pushing the envelope a little. The songs themselves are traditional metal with big slabs of what you know as power metal that simply never gets that powerful.  You have the twidly didly guitar solos, big dramatic keyboards, overdubs, and multi tracking, all the main ingredients are present along with some top notch musicianship, and in fairness some half decent vocal performances, but the quality of the tune is completely lacking.

Opening track' Sirens' is a stab at power metal with the keyboards and guitar fighting for attention before deciding to actually help each other out, there's the overlong solos as there are on every track, with the exception of 'Wolfpup' which thankfully lasts less than a minute. 'Slam Down The Hammer' is a half decent song from the Saxon school of riffing but it's sadly lacking the class of the Byford mob.  Whilst the orchestral intro to 'The Crow' goes on far too long as an introduction to the underpowered metal that follows. 'Let me Die' has a Dio-esque feel with a hint of 'Heaven and Hell' and along with the Cooper-esque 'Reptile Kiss' they provide the stand out songs on offer here.

Look, I have listened to this album half a dozen times now from beginning to end in hope that the named guests would provide some magic that I must have missed on one of my previous listens, but I am yet to find it.  'Wolfpakk' completely lacks any surprises, anything that truly gives you something to get excited about, anything in fact that the guests on this album should be putting their names anywhere near. 

For this assignment then I would give it back demanding Wolfpakk do it again, but this time with the guests writing all the songs and the two leaders of the pakk taking more of a back seat.

http://www.wolfpakk.net/